The House of Shadows

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 1, 2 January 1937, Page 8 (Supplement)

The House of Shadows

CHAPTER V. Strahl dropped his hands from me and wheeled with an oath towards tiie newcomer. "Steady, Strahl," rapped the latter, a tall, good-featured man wearing a dark Horn burg hat and a loose-fitting lounge suit. "Steady, I have you covered." With a gun in his hand, he stepped towards Strahl. I switched my eyes from him for a moment to where r, uniformed constable, whom I recognised as the policeman from Kirkrie, was clambering through the broken window. "You!" panted Strahl, backing slowly away from the man in plain clothes. "What do you want with me, curse you?" and he licked livid lips with the tip of hi* tongue. "I have a warrant for your arrest on the charges of murder- and robbery!" was the terse reply. "It's a lie!" shrieked Strahl. "It's a lie —a-a-ah!" The words ended in a snarl. There had come the glint of steel and handcuffs snapped shut on Strahl's wrists. He stood staring at them as though dazed. The uniformed constable stepped heavily forward and.ranged himself alongside the handcuffed Strahl. The man in plain clothes turned to me. "My name is Kurz," he said curtly. "I am from the police bureau of Berlin. Will you tell me who you are and how you come to be here ?" Hie eyes flickered to what lay on the floor, then returned me. "Yes, I will tell you/' I said weakly, and walking unsteadily to a chair by the table, I seated myself. Then, haltingly, I told him of the events of that night,, commencing with when I first had seen the light glimmering through the mist. He listened in silence with an occasional nod of his head. And when eventually I had finished he said in more kindly tones: "You are an extremely lucky man to be still alive, Mr. Howard." "But will you tell me what all this means?" I demanded. "Who is this man Strahl and—and what is he doing here? He told me he was a doctor." "He is a doctor—a scientist," replied Kurz. '"He was once recognised as the most brilliant anthropo-

logist in Europe. But he was also the brain behind the cleverest gang of criminals with which we have ever had to deal." "You lie!" burst out Strahl passionately. "You know* I do not," rapped Kurz, then lurned again to me. "We broke up the gang,", he went on, "but could

AN ADVENTURE TALE FOR BOYS.

never discover the identity of the man behind the scenee. But we of the police were surprised that when the men wo had our hands on came up for trial there was not a ha'penny forthcoming with which to brief counsel for their defence!" He gestured towards the man who lay on the floor.

"That man there," he continued, "was the one member of the gang who knew Strahl's identity. He pave Strahl away for Strahl had fled from the country taking with him the fund which accrued from many robberies, and which was the common property or the gang for. their defence should they ever be arrested. Such funds are a common thing in the underworld of Berlin." "Yes, I understand," I said. "All our efforts—and we worked in conjunction with Scotland Yard— all our efforts, I say, to find Strahl were unavailing. But there came a day when that man who lies there was released from prison. We thought he knew more of Strahl than ever he had told us and we were correct in that surmise. For he came here—came on a mission of vengeance, and I followed him. I arrived in Kirkrie some hours ago to find that he had been in the village, but had set out across the moors. We followed, the constable and I, and arrived here, I think, just in time." "But how did you know he was making for here?" I demanded. "The description the constable gave me of the man who lived here-alone, made me certain it was Strahl," replied Kurz. "The mist delayed us or we would have been here earlier. In time, perhaps, to save the life of Strahl's would-be assassin." "But what killed him?" I demanded.. "Yes, what killed him, Strahl?" said Kurz, wheeling on the prisoner. "You'll pain nothing now, by keeping anything back." !, The ape got him," snarled Strahl. "I used to let it roam the house every night because—because I knew they would try and get me someday and I knew that the one who came here to-night had been released from prison." "And why," I asked looking at him. "Did you want me to stay with you to-night?" "Because," he said, and his shoulders slumped wearily, "mv nerve was going. I wanted company." His voice blazed up in sudden anger. "Can't you understand? Waiting here alone, night after night, expecting the knife thrust which I knew was always threatening. It was terrible—terrible." "But you would have killed me, in the end," I said quietly. "Yes, because you kn<»vv too much —had seen too much," he snarled. "And you killed the stamichest friend I ever had." He gestured towards the ape. "He was dumb—l had made him so. for that was necessary. But I had trained him. Curse you, I wish I'd let you go your way when I first met you." "So. indeed, do I," I replied soberly. I rose from the table and crossed to the broken window. Dawn was breaking across the lonely moors. "If you want me," I said turning to Kurz, "you will find me at the village." Collecting my hat and stick I let myself out at the front door and passed into the clean fresh air of early morning. THE END.